1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to liquid ejecting head units and liquid ejecting apparatuses, particularly to ink jet recording head units that discharge ink as liquid and ink jet recording apparatuses.
2. Related Art
A liquid ejecting apparatus represented by an ink jet recording apparatus such as an ink jet printer, a plotter, or the like includes a liquid ejecting head unit (hereinafter, also called a “head unit”) provided with a plurality of liquid ejecting heads capable of ejecting liquid such as ink or the like that is stored in a cartridge, a tank, or the like, in the form of droplets.
Each of the liquid ejecting heads includes a nozzle row in which nozzle openings through which ink is discharged are aligned. The plurality of liquid ejecting heads form a plurality of head rows arranged in a zigzag pattern along an alignment direction of the nozzle row, and are mounted on a common holding member (for example, see JP-A-2010-167607). By aligning the plurality of liquid ejecting heads as described above, a liquid ejecting head unit having a long nozzle row is provided.
To prevent deterioration of the print quality, it is preferable for an interval between the head rows to be smaller. In other word, it is preferable for the head rows to be closer to each other. Therefore, the parts (flanges in JP-A-2010-167607) for fixing the liquid ejecting heads to holders are provided on both sides in the alignment direction of each of the liquid ejecting heads. Since the flanges provided in this manner are not located between the head rows, it is possible to make the head rows closer to each other accordingly.
The head rows of the liquid ejecting heads arranged in the zigzag pattern are configured so that the nozzle openings are arranged in series. In other words, the position of an end of the nozzle row in the liquid ejecting head belonging to one head row overlaps in the alignment direction with the position of an end of the nozzle row in the liquid ejecting head belonging to an adjacent head row.
Since the liquid ejecting heads are arranged so that the positions of the nozzle rows overlap with each other in the manner described above, the liquid ejecting heads are also arranged to be close to each other in the alignment direction. This makes the intervals in the alignment direction between the liquid ejecting heads smaller; as a result, a large space cannot be ensured.
The flange is located inside the interval between the liquid ejecting heads in the alignment direction. However, as described above, because the interval cannot be made larger, the size (area) of the flange cannot be made larger. In other words, the parts for fixing the liquid ejecting heads to the holding member are caused to have a minute detailed structure, thereby raising a risk that the liquid ejecting heads fixed to the holding member become unstable.
Note that the above problem occurs not only in an ink jet recording head unit, but also occurs similarly in a liquid ejecting recording head unit that ejects liquid other than ink.